Hello All!
I found something quite pinteresting today I figured since I am so scater-brained my explinations can be long winded and full of digressions I found another blog that does an amazing job explaining how cloth diapers work
http://www.viewalongtheway.com/2013/02/cloth-diapering-101/ Check it out. It's awesome!
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Monday, March 25, 2013
How to cloth diaper your child
Hello world!
I am back with a vengance! I am kidding, I'm just back! So i thought to myself that I should attempt to explain cloth diapering a little more than my ranty introduction earlier this week. I do asure you, cloth diapering is not hard.
Your first order of business is to collect up some diapers for your little one. (I am currently taking orders for whomever would like to make some purchases) You will need 10-12 to get through 1 day. If you don't want to wash every day then 2-3 doze should get you through a few days. I do laundry everyday anyway so I just use 10. There are a bunch of different kinds out there. you have AIO (all in ones) AI2 (all in 2) and pockets. AIO and AI2 are self explanitory, a pocket diaper all you have to do is take your desired number of insets, and place them neatly into the diaper and you are good to go. When I pull mine out of the laundry I stuff them so they are waiting patiently to be used. There are literally hundreds of options on who to purchase through. you can get one size diapers or fitteds. One size has an array of snaps along the front of the diaper that adjusts the rise of the diaper allowing it to 'grow' with your baby.
I prefer fitteds because I feel they reduce the bulky awkwardness that is sometimes associated with cloth. I like my son to wear the clothes he has, and not to buy him an entirely new wardrobe to wear around his diapers. One sizes are great for those families who have more than one baby in diapers, or more than one baby in general, or a family on a budget who cannot afford to purchase new fitteds when their baby grows out of them. Cloth diapers are insanely durable. I make my own so I know how awesome they are, but I wash mine every day, sometimes twice a day (depending on how much use I got out of them that day) and they are still holding up like a dream. They aren't even faded. The liner I use for the inside of my diapers is microfleece suedecloth and my son's bottom is always dry. No matter how soaked the inserts are.
Next is the actual application of the diapers. Once you put them on their butts, there is no telling what they will do next! Wrangling your baby is the hardest part about using any diaper. My son is probably the worst. As soon as you lay him down and get the diaper off, he rolls over and crawls away faster than Speedy Gonzales! Once I catch him and tell him a million times to hold still, I get his cloth on. Just like a disposable, only difference here, I use snaps instead of tape or hook and loop. I make sure it's on well, sometimes I have to pull up on the back end or sides or something because my son is a wiggler. and I am all set for about 2-3 hours. Sometimes less than that. After a while of cloth diapering you will be able to feel the diaper and tell when the inserts are wet. But what do you do if your baby uses the diaper for its intended purpose? POOP?
Don't panic! Babies are supposed to poop. And although poop smells bad about 99.9% of the time, and it is often gooey and squishy and gross, do not freak out! This is what these things were designed for! All you have to do is take off the diaper, clean baby's bottom, put a clean diaper on and set your baby free so you can handle the aftermath! Go to the bathroom, dump the dookie in the toilet, use some toilet paper if you have to, this is where most people invest in a toilet sprayer, I just use the one on my kitchen sink and once the dookie residue is gone I drop a few droplets of dawn or some handmade soap I have and rise the diaper out thoroughly and toss it in the washer to await being cleaned. I clean my kitchen sink with some bleach, or cleaning solution or vinegar or whatever is easiest to grab.
That is it. No big deal! and honestly you get over doing hand to hand combat with poop everyday.
I am back with a vengance! I am kidding, I'm just back! So i thought to myself that I should attempt to explain cloth diapering a little more than my ranty introduction earlier this week. I do asure you, cloth diapering is not hard.
Your first order of business is to collect up some diapers for your little one. (I am currently taking orders for whomever would like to make some purchases) You will need 10-12 to get through 1 day. If you don't want to wash every day then 2-3 doze should get you through a few days. I do laundry everyday anyway so I just use 10. There are a bunch of different kinds out there. you have AIO (all in ones) AI2 (all in 2) and pockets. AIO and AI2 are self explanitory, a pocket diaper all you have to do is take your desired number of insets, and place them neatly into the diaper and you are good to go. When I pull mine out of the laundry I stuff them so they are waiting patiently to be used. There are literally hundreds of options on who to purchase through. you can get one size diapers or fitteds. One size has an array of snaps along the front of the diaper that adjusts the rise of the diaper allowing it to 'grow' with your baby.
I prefer fitteds because I feel they reduce the bulky awkwardness that is sometimes associated with cloth. I like my son to wear the clothes he has, and not to buy him an entirely new wardrobe to wear around his diapers. One sizes are great for those families who have more than one baby in diapers, or more than one baby in general, or a family on a budget who cannot afford to purchase new fitteds when their baby grows out of them. Cloth diapers are insanely durable. I make my own so I know how awesome they are, but I wash mine every day, sometimes twice a day (depending on how much use I got out of them that day) and they are still holding up like a dream. They aren't even faded. The liner I use for the inside of my diapers is microfleece suedecloth and my son's bottom is always dry. No matter how soaked the inserts are.
Next is the actual application of the diapers. Once you put them on their butts, there is no telling what they will do next! Wrangling your baby is the hardest part about using any diaper. My son is probably the worst. As soon as you lay him down and get the diaper off, he rolls over and crawls away faster than Speedy Gonzales! Once I catch him and tell him a million times to hold still, I get his cloth on. Just like a disposable, only difference here, I use snaps instead of tape or hook and loop. I make sure it's on well, sometimes I have to pull up on the back end or sides or something because my son is a wiggler. and I am all set for about 2-3 hours. Sometimes less than that. After a while of cloth diapering you will be able to feel the diaper and tell when the inserts are wet. But what do you do if your baby uses the diaper for its intended purpose? POOP?
Don't panic! Babies are supposed to poop. And although poop smells bad about 99.9% of the time, and it is often gooey and squishy and gross, do not freak out! This is what these things were designed for! All you have to do is take off the diaper, clean baby's bottom, put a clean diaper on and set your baby free so you can handle the aftermath! Go to the bathroom, dump the dookie in the toilet, use some toilet paper if you have to, this is where most people invest in a toilet sprayer, I just use the one on my kitchen sink and once the dookie residue is gone I drop a few droplets of dawn or some handmade soap I have and rise the diaper out thoroughly and toss it in the washer to await being cleaned. I clean my kitchen sink with some bleach, or cleaning solution or vinegar or whatever is easiest to grab.
Friday, March 22, 2013
The cloth diaper wars...
Cloth diapering is confusing, to say the least! At least in the beginning. Especially if you were anything like me and you thought to yourself "Cloth whatsitnow?" My mom cloth diapered some of my 10 brothers and sisters when we were little. The problem was her system is outdated. Disposables grew up out of necessity. With the growing rates of moms who worked, and the old school fathers who had no idea how to do much around the house, having been taught in their childhoods to provide for a home where a mother was content to engage her children in the life long process that is childrearing - but I digress... SO I was confused. 6 months pregnant and I love crafty things so I put cloth diapers on my list of desired "necessities" for my abyssmal baby shower.
BUMgenius is what I came across first. Psychology says that the first and the last things we see within a list or slide show or explination are the things we were remember the most profoundly, or something like that. I never got those cloth diapers. I live on a budget, so I could not afford the $300 starter pack. I did receive plenty of disposables... A few months in to parenthood, now a stay at home mom with my abnormally large, abnormally active, abnormally hungry 3 month old, I decided to look into it some more.
What I found was do it yourself patterns for T-shirt diapers. So I made a bunch. Like 20. The problem was the leaking. Oh they leaked everywhere! I kept thinking to myself there is no way people do this. NO WAY! No way does a mother put her adorable, chubby baby in a T-shirt diaper, run to the grocery store and PRAY for a dry baby on the way home. Where was the water-proofing? I found my answer in wool. Wool? I didn't have time for that! Let me go wrangle some sheep for a bit, grab some fibers, and in between running around topless, baby attached, make some felt that is rich in lanolin (the water resistant agent) and stitch together some type of cover that hides the adorable design I strategically placed a pattern over not days ago, to highlight on my son's behind. What crap. I gave up. Screw it, that is way too much. I like the whole earthy theme, but I am not hippie. (Sorry to all my hips out there)
My mother in law looked into it. Wanting to help in my crazy schemes of differentiated parenting. The cloth diapers were outrageous! $18.00 for ONE diaper? WTF? I can't crap out $18.00 right now! That is a lot of money when you live on a budget, and if you are smart like me and invested in a vehicle where $18.00 almost gets you half a tank! My mother in law finds some cloth diaper covers. Actually they were pocket diapers. For $5 a piece... from China. I said ok. Let's go for it. She bought me 5, and although they were almost as crappy as my T-shirt diapers, they got me hooked. I was completely done in for cloth diapers.... My son was 6 months old.
At 8 months, we were walking through Walmart when I literally stumbled upon PUL fabric. When I was searching for cheaper cloth diapers, I found PUL, but it was $14 a yard. I had no idea what I would have gotten myself into. I have more restraint when I 'window shop' online so I never purchased. But here, right in front of my face, was PUL fabric at Walmart! Of all the places. (I have a love hate thing with Wally world, but THAT is another story) So because I am an impulse buyer of the worst kind, I bought a few yards. And a book to boot! And here I am today. I am a half ass student in online college, working a few shifts at a cafe so my husband can't comlpain about my lack of income and I make cloth diapers like crazy! I made 10 this week and shipped them out today, then another 5 for my son just today! and I have his inserts to make up tomorrow. In 40 minutes I did the bare minimum for my schoolwork requirements for the day and made diapers the rest of the day.
So here is my 2 cents that no one asked for: Cloth diaper. It's not hard, it's actually really fun, and any woman who cloth diapers (she will tell you immediately) can tell you it is an absolute addiction. 100% like cocain in an IV addiciton. Don't think to yourself "that is not for me, I don't have time for it" That is complete crap. I promise. Everywhere my son goes, he goes in a cloth diaper. I have taken him to the airport, on an airplane and a car ride (a total of like a 6 hour journey) from North Carolina to New York (where my family lives) and cloth diapered his butt the entire time. The only time I use disposables is when he sleeps at night. He sleeps for 12 hours straight. I am not waking him up to change his butt. HELL NO!
This is what you do. Pick a brand. It doesn't matter, try a few out. Find a co-op, ask some friends. There are plenty of people on facebook whose children are too big for their cloth diapers and they will give you some used ones. Yes used. It won't kill you. Try cloth for 1 day. If you don't like it, feel free to tell me all abour your horrid experience with cloth, you will be among a very small number, and I promise I genuinely don't care how bad it sucks. Cloth is awesome. You will not want to clothe your baby because you will hide the diaper. You will want to move to a warmer climate so your baby's butt will be visible to the WHOLE WORLD. Cloth diapers are like Pringles....
BUMgenius is what I came across first. Psychology says that the first and the last things we see within a list or slide show or explination are the things we were remember the most profoundly, or something like that. I never got those cloth diapers. I live on a budget, so I could not afford the $300 starter pack. I did receive plenty of disposables... A few months in to parenthood, now a stay at home mom with my abnormally large, abnormally active, abnormally hungry 3 month old, I decided to look into it some more.
What I found was do it yourself patterns for T-shirt diapers. So I made a bunch. Like 20. The problem was the leaking. Oh they leaked everywhere! I kept thinking to myself there is no way people do this. NO WAY! No way does a mother put her adorable, chubby baby in a T-shirt diaper, run to the grocery store and PRAY for a dry baby on the way home. Where was the water-proofing? I found my answer in wool. Wool? I didn't have time for that! Let me go wrangle some sheep for a bit, grab some fibers, and in between running around topless, baby attached, make some felt that is rich in lanolin (the water resistant agent) and stitch together some type of cover that hides the adorable design I strategically placed a pattern over not days ago, to highlight on my son's behind. What crap. I gave up. Screw it, that is way too much. I like the whole earthy theme, but I am not hippie. (Sorry to all my hips out there)
My mother in law looked into it. Wanting to help in my crazy schemes of differentiated parenting. The cloth diapers were outrageous! $18.00 for ONE diaper? WTF? I can't crap out $18.00 right now! That is a lot of money when you live on a budget, and if you are smart like me and invested in a vehicle where $18.00 almost gets you half a tank! My mother in law finds some cloth diaper covers. Actually they were pocket diapers. For $5 a piece... from China. I said ok. Let's go for it. She bought me 5, and although they were almost as crappy as my T-shirt diapers, they got me hooked. I was completely done in for cloth diapers.... My son was 6 months old.
At 8 months, we were walking through Walmart when I literally stumbled upon PUL fabric. When I was searching for cheaper cloth diapers, I found PUL, but it was $14 a yard. I had no idea what I would have gotten myself into. I have more restraint when I 'window shop' online so I never purchased. But here, right in front of my face, was PUL fabric at Walmart! Of all the places. (I have a love hate thing with Wally world, but THAT is another story) So because I am an impulse buyer of the worst kind, I bought a few yards. And a book to boot! And here I am today. I am a half ass student in online college, working a few shifts at a cafe so my husband can't comlpain about my lack of income and I make cloth diapers like crazy! I made 10 this week and shipped them out today, then another 5 for my son just today! and I have his inserts to make up tomorrow. In 40 minutes I did the bare minimum for my schoolwork requirements for the day and made diapers the rest of the day.
So here is my 2 cents that no one asked for: Cloth diaper. It's not hard, it's actually really fun, and any woman who cloth diapers (she will tell you immediately) can tell you it is an absolute addiction. 100% like cocain in an IV addiciton. Don't think to yourself "that is not for me, I don't have time for it" That is complete crap. I promise. Everywhere my son goes, he goes in a cloth diaper. I have taken him to the airport, on an airplane and a car ride (a total of like a 6 hour journey) from North Carolina to New York (where my family lives) and cloth diapered his butt the entire time. The only time I use disposables is when he sleeps at night. He sleeps for 12 hours straight. I am not waking him up to change his butt. HELL NO!
This is what you do. Pick a brand. It doesn't matter, try a few out. Find a co-op, ask some friends. There are plenty of people on facebook whose children are too big for their cloth diapers and they will give you some used ones. Yes used. It won't kill you. Try cloth for 1 day. If you don't like it, feel free to tell me all abour your horrid experience with cloth, you will be among a very small number, and I promise I genuinely don't care how bad it sucks. Cloth is awesome. You will not want to clothe your baby because you will hide the diaper. You will want to move to a warmer climate so your baby's butt will be visible to the WHOLE WORLD. Cloth diapers are like Pringles....
There is no retirement from being a mom
Today I left some dishes dirty
The bed got made around 3:30
The diapers soaked a little longer
The odor grew a little stronger
The crumbs I spilled the day befoer
Are staring at me from the floor
The fingerprints there on the wall
Will likely be there still next fall
The dirty streaks on those window panes
Will still be there next time it rains
... Shame on you, you sit and say,
Just what did you do today?
I held a baby till he slept,
I held a toddler while he wept.
I played a game of hide and seek,
I squeezed a toy so it would squeak.
I pulled a wagon, sang a song,
Taught a child right from wrong.
What did I do this whole day through?
Not much that shows, I guess that's true
Unless you think that what I've done
Might be important to someone,
With bright blue eyes and soft blonde hair
If that is true... I've done my share
Author unknown
(I changed the 2nd to last line to suit me)
The bed got made around 3:30
The diapers soaked a little longer
The odor grew a little stronger
The crumbs I spilled the day befoer
Are staring at me from the floor
The fingerprints there on the wall
Will likely be there still next fall
The dirty streaks on those window panes
Will still be there next time it rains
... Shame on you, you sit and say,
Just what did you do today?
I held a baby till he slept,
I held a toddler while he wept.
I played a game of hide and seek,
I squeezed a toy so it would squeak.
I pulled a wagon, sang a song,
Taught a child right from wrong.
What did I do this whole day through?
Not much that shows, I guess that's true
Unless you think that what I've done
Might be important to someone,
With bright blue eyes and soft blonde hair
If that is true... I've done my share
Author unknown
(I changed the 2nd to last line to suit me)
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